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Scientists Say Cosmic Rays May Cause Global Warming
Saint Aardvark writes "Researchers in Israel and Germany suggest that variations in cosmic radiation as the sun orbits the galactic core may be responsible for changes in the Earth's climate -- including more than half of the change in the 20th century. A PDF of their article is available from GSA Today or read the abstract for their Physical Review Letters article."
Those damn Republicans always helping big corporations spew out cosmic radiation and causing global warming....
...oh, wait a minute....never mind.
I just don't cosmic ray variation would account for more than half of the 20th century's climatic change. The variation just wouldn't be that great given the fact that the solar system simply hasn't moved very far in 100 years.
I'm just waiting for the antiscience republicans to jump on this. "See? Here's a study that says that cosmic rays cause climate change. Not greenhouse gases! See we were right to censor the EPA's report that global warming was primarly caused through human activity. Now let's continue with our report on how nicotine is not addictive, and creation science in our schools".
...the HTML version of the article can be found here.
It's this kind of fascist "global warming" (if it exists) "*must* be caused by evil American corporations and consumers and I will not listen to anything that suggests otherwise" kind of thinking that has really turned me against environmentalists. That closed minded "I am right and you are wrong and we'll do this my way or I'll have you shot" attitude tells me more about the weakness of their arguement than anything else. If Global Warming truly is occuring and is caused by man, then how can researching all angles of this issue (including solar influences) be bad? It can't. That's why these envirowhackos want to shout down everyone that may disagree with them. Thay don't want *any* proof that hurts their "cause."
And that, my friends, is Fascism.
BC
"I really wish these researchers would stop trying to distract the world from the real problem and maybe put their brains to good use-- say finding a solution to the problem at hand. Cosmic rays, blah. The fact of the matter is we have four billion people on the earth that breathe, fart and drive cars that put out enough noxious gas to kill you in you in a closed garage in mere minutes. "
Um. Can't stop the problem if you don't understand the nature of it. So finding out if it is 'cosmic rays' or not will be more beneficial than finding a cure for flatulence.
"Derp de derp."
We're not even 100% certain there is a global warming problem. There are geological records that indicates the Earth regularly goes through not only major ice ages and warmer periods, but also mini ice ages and warm periods as the global temperature oscillates. As it happens, we're in the middle of a warm period... Remember our weather data only goes back 100 years of so, plus some anecdotal evidence...